Whole-house fit-out landed on the Sunshine Coast

The whole-house fit-out we priced

A four-bedroom house: kitchen, laundry, wardrobes, vanities, stone, tiles, tapware and sanitary ware, internal doors and lighting, from three or four factories consolidated in Foshan.

Landed on the Sunshine Coast, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Against Sunshine Coast prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

The local figures are built up room by room from published cost guides (kitchen, two bathrooms and an ensuite, laundry, about 10 metres of wardrobes, 150 m2 of floor tile), then the goods share is taken at 55 to 65 percent of the installed total. No published survey prices a whole fit-out by city.

No city fit-out source and no RLB dwelling rate for this city; national figure used. Track Brisbane (RLB Brisbane custom dwellings $3,150 to $5,800 per m2 ex GST).

Is it worth it?

Usually, and by most at a mid to high spec. About $78,786 landed on the Sunshine Coast against roughly $75,000 to $175,000 for the same goods locally. At the bottom of that local range a budget fit-out costs about the same as landed; at the spec Elje prices (2-pac, stone, brand-level tapware) the gap is tens of thousands, because one container, one customs entry and one set of Elje fees carry the whole house. Estimate.

The Sunshine Coast market

The Sunshine Coast runs about 3 percent under Brisbane on the cost index: kitchens $11,650 to $43,650 installed, bathrooms $9,700 to $33,950. Few local suppliers publish prices online, so Brisbane prices are the practical benchmark, and most showroom shopping happens there anyway.

How it gets to the Sunshine Coast

Foshan factory to Nansha or Shekou, a South China service to the Port of Brisbane, then about 100 km by road up the Bruce Highway to Maroochydore, further to Noosa.

The Sunshine Coast has no container port. Goods land at Fisherman Islands in Brisbane and come up the Bruce Highway.

A container can usually go straight to a new-build site on acreage. Check the access road can take a side-loader before the booking.

What moves the number

• 20 ft or 40 ft. A typical four-bedroom fit-out of joinery, stone, tiles and tapware fits a 20 ft container. Add internal doors and more joinery and it needs a 40 ft, which adds about $4,500 landed at October 2026 rates.
• How many factories. Every factory means a pre-shipment inspection, about US$240 to US$310 a day.
• Consolidation. Goods from several factories are gathered at one Foshan warehouse and go in one container, under one customs entry.
• Freight timing. Carriers have announced rate increases from November 2026. The rate is set when the container is booked, not when you order.
• Elje's fees are the same whatever the size: $990 for the Project Plan and 2 percent of the order for Assured.

What it has to comply with

• One shipment, many rules: WaterMark and WELS for plumbing, AS 4586 slip ratings for tiles, illegal logging due diligence for timber and board, RCM for anything electrical, ISPM 15 for timber packaging.
• Aluminium windows and doors from China attract anti-dumping and countervailing deposits from 15 October 2026 that a certificate of origin does not remove. Price them separately.
• Nearly every fit-out product is Free of duty from China with a ChAFTA certificate of origin; without one, most are 5 percent.

Notes for the Sunshine Coast

Coastal and subtropical. The same salt and humidity rules as the Gold Coast: PVD or 316 stainless outside, moisture-resistant board inside.

• Freight, port and border charges are the Brisbane figures. Cartage is the only line that moves.
• Hinterland sites (Maleny, Montville, Eumundi) often need a smaller truck for the last few kilometres. Ask before booking a 40 ft container.
• Plenty of Sunshine Coast builds are new houses on acreage, where the whole fit-out fills its own container and the cartage cost is spread over far more goods.

Questions